Why Ruin What Was Working, Walgreens?

Well put! I live in Florida as well. I am ready to yank all of my
prescriptions and transfer them to a small neighborhood pharmacy where
the people know me by my first name and I can get a script filled in
15 minutes.

Walgreens is going to put themselves out of business fi they are not
careful. Their new phone/internet refill system is a disaster. I
have placed numerous calls with the regional manager and have only
gotten promises that it would be corrected shortly.

In a time when businesses REALLY need customer loyalty in order to
survive our financial mess, you would think that Walgreens (as well as
others) would strive harder to make the customer happy.

As a follow up to my original posting, I needed another prescription
and had hoped Walgreens would have gone back to the "two line" system.
However, the "Drop Off" window was again closed (it was a busy
Saturday right before Christmas) and even though I didn't have to wait
as long as last time, it still seems to me that the "Drop Off" and
"Pick Up" lines should be differentiated. I still had to wait about 15
minutes to drop off an RX and waited about the same amount of time to
pick up. I wish Walgreens would reconsider this rediculous policy and
go back to the old Drop Off and Pick Up windows. I know many people
are switching their RX's to Publix now because of this situation. It's
easier to drop off at Publix, do your food shopping and then pick up
the RX before you check out. I think I may be joining those who are
doing this. I feel badly about doing it but I can't stand in line for
both pick up an drop off every time I need something at Walgreens.

Good letter. This is not the way to work a pharmacy. Whoever thought
of this needs to review HIPPA laws and make the lines separate and a
sign about standing a few feet behind the person at the counter
conversing with the pharmacist/pharm tech.

I was at walmart the other day and they have a sign up about not
buying crap at their registers unless it is their prescription or
other medications in that dept. I don't know if it was the pharmacists
idea or walmarts idea to post the sign but I had to laugh that it even
needs to be posted.

I totally agree with what you are saying about Walgreens. As a former
Walgreen from Portage, MI, they do it to cut back on staff. Meaning
two windows 2 employees. Now they only have to pay 1 to do the job of
2. Makes sense, right? NOOOOOOOOO They seem that all employees are
able to multi-task very good in which alot of people cant even walk
and chew gum at the same time. Had with Walgreens in the way they
treat their customers and their employees. Finally realize that time
with my family is much more important than Walgreens time. I may not
have a job, but tell you what, I am a much happier person.

I dont think this is a company wide change. I was just at Walgreens
yesterday to drop off some scripts for my sister and there was the
drop off window and the further down was the pick up area and cash
registers.

Maybe its just something they did for Christmas for some odd reason??

I totally agree with you. As a pharmacy tech, I do not think this was
a bright idea. When you had 2 separate windows, you definitely knew
who was dropping off and picking up. With the windows combined,
there's supposed to be 2 separate lines but no one knows where to
stand so it's total chaos. Not to mention, there's no sort of patient
privacy. I really believe that whoever came up with this idea does not
work in a pharmacy.

I also know that not all pharmacies are doing this. Some are and some
aren't. I truly wish we could go back the old way because the old way
works and things run more efficiently.

And as far as folks wanting have other items rung up, I TOTALLY agree
with you. I can understand a few things, especially if they're
medically related, but folks get carried away. Ringing up a cartload
of stuff takes away time from filling prescriptions and it can
increase wait times especially if there's a problem with things not
ringing up correctly or coupon problems. Not only that, I think it's
completely rude and selfish for people to do that. When you're not
feeling well, the last thing you want to do is wait in line for 15
minutes because some fruit loop is complaining that the peanut butter
is supposed to be on sale.

I'm really glad that you brought these things up to corporates
attention and I truly hope that the more customers complain about it,
something will be done about it.

Do we know if it is a permanent change (i.e., has happened more than
once) as opposed to something that might have been needed on a single
day due to staffing issues? Just wondering....

The drop off window has not been eliminated. Not by any means. The
two major reasons why there was not a seperate drop off window are
time of day/number of employees. I've always considered customers who
purchase a cart load of unrelated pharmacy items to be inconsiderate
dolts.

I understand why you would be upset with this change, but it occurs to
me that when I used to obtain my mom's prescriptions, there was only
one line (a place called Drug Fair).

It's funny - I can remember waiting 5-10 minutes for help but it never
occurred to me they might have two lines. At the same time, I can
picture all they places I have seen that have two lines. I suppose it
depends on whether they can justify two CSR's. This is good feedback.

I'm guessing they did this so they only need one person manning the
counter instead of two people. I'd be annoyed as well that my
drop-off required me to wait behind people with more high-maintenance
needs/requests. And given the line at the pharmacy, they shouldn't
allow people to make non-pharm purchases there.